Copyright Law

Gardner Theft News (UPDATED)

Posted on March 04, 2010
The Boston Globe: "On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the theft of masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the FBI is resubmitting evidence taken from the crime scene for DNA analysis in hope of gaining a long-sought break in the case...

Steal Away

Posted on March 04, 2010
I ran into a friend, and loyal reader of the blog, this morning, who immediately said: "Okay, okay, we get it: the movie isn't any good!"Point taken, and so let's take a break from The Art of the Steal for a while (though I reserve the right to come back to it if someone has something especially interesting to say about it)...

"Any argument that the Barnes shouldn't move needs to explain how and why Judge Ott arrived at his fateful, wrongful decision. . . ."

Posted on March 02, 2010
" . . . It's a task that Argott has unaccountably side-stepped."Lee Rosenbaum posts Part 2 of her review of "The Art of the Steal."

"It weighs over 100 kilograms which leads us to believe that this is an organised heist, possibly even some kind of artist performance"

Posted on March 02, 2010
The Art Newspaper reports: "A huge banner by the Russian art collective AES+F was stolen last week when technicians at the Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam removed the work from the building façade."

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"The idea of a 'theft' requires that the 'thing' stolen is actually taken from someone"

Posted on March 02, 2010
Barnes Foundation general counsel Brett Miller has a letter to the editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, in response to their review of "The Art of the Steal." He says:"The basic allegation of the film ... is that the Barnes collection was somehow 'hijacked' or 'stolen...

"There can be no denying the public benefit, both for the city of Philadelphia and the general public, of opening the collection to a wider audience"

Posted on February 27, 2010
Mark Lamster in The Architect's Newspaper: "Argott fails to engage or even acknowledge the two central questions the Barnes controversy (and his film) raises. First, why should reasonable people be forced to live with the intransigent intentions of a man who?s been dead for half a century? And second, might the Barnes collection actually be better off in a purpose-built museum in downtown Philadelphia, where it will be far more accessible to the general public, and a boon to that city?s teetering economy...

"Less a doc than a polemic"

Posted on February 27, 2010
Philadelphia Weekly: "[Argott] pushes his argument too hard?so absurdly hard, in fact, that the only sane response is to think it?s not really THAT big a deal. . . . [O]ne of the opening sound bites charges that the Barnes move is 'the biggest act of cultural vandalism since World War II...

"The distortions start with the film's title"

Posted on February 26, 2010
Lee Rosenbaum posts part one of her review of "The Art of the Steal." Some highlights:"No Barnes masterpieces have been 'stolen' ... There was no 'heist.' ... This intrastate transport of masterpieces is surely not 'the greatest act of cultural vandalism since World War II...

"Is it really 'a tragedy' that lots more people will get to see these paintings?"

Posted on February 26, 2010
Kyle Smith: "This documentary relies heavily on an echo chamber of art writers and teachers, all of whom are outraged by the proposed move, but their ad hominem snark ... and use of derision like calling the new museum 'McBarnes' are more revealing than the filmmakers suspect...

Indictment in Clementine Hunter Case

Posted on February 26, 2010
The (La.) Independent Weekly reports: "A federal grand jury indicted three people for selling counterfeit Clementine Hunter paintings. William Toye, 78, and Beryl Ann Toye, 68, both of Baton Rouge, and 62-year-old Robert E. Lucky Jr. of New Orleans were named in a four-count indictment that charges all three defendants with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, acting U...

What if Barnes's Will called for one work to be deaccessioned every year on his birthday?

Posted on February 26, 2010
The Art Market Monitor:"Many of the outraged opponents of the Barnes move point to his wishes. Call it donor intent. Any sensible construction of the idea of art as a public trust ... should find Barnes?s dictatorial constraints over the art long after his own death ...

Linkage

Posted on February 26, 2010
Lawsuit over Warhol painting.Law & Order, art-style."Few Canadians give to the arts."Art crime exhibit."The Guardian's report confirms a number of frequently discussed issues related to stolen art and ransoms."

Not So Easy

Posted on February 25, 2010
I went back and forth this summer with Peter Friedman over the Gaylord postage stamp fair use case. I said it was good example of the unpredictability of fair use decisions. Friedman said that was "ridiculous." Gaylord, he maintained, was an "easy case" of fair use...

More "Art of the Steal" Reviews

Posted on February 25, 2010
The New York Times:"As its title suggests, 'The Art of the Steal' is nothing if not agenda-driven, having been paid for by a former foundation student, Lenny Feinberg, who ? to quote the movie?s notes ? 'initiated, funded and was intimately involved in the making of The Art of the Steal...

Daniel Moore Appeal Dismissed

Posted on February 24, 2010
On a clerical error.For background on what the appeal is about, see here.

Not So Fast

Posted on February 24, 2010
I said yesterday that The Tennessean's report on the latest in the Fisk-O'Keeffe litigation -- under the headline "Door is left open for Fisk to sell Georgia O'Keeffe art," and complete with triumphant quotes from Fisk President Hazel O'Leary ("Those who wait long enough get good news") -- was a little premature...

"No one seeing 'The Art of the Steal' will be left wondering where the filmmakers? sympathies are"

Posted on February 23, 2010
There was a good story in Sunday's New York Times on "The Art of the Steal," which opens Friday in New York. The key point is one I've made here several times: the movie is a polemic; don't go in expecting even a remotely balanced presentation.It notes that the project came to the director, Don Argott, "through a former Barnes student named Lenny Feinberg"; that "the title itself ...

More on the question of photographing public art

Posted on February 23, 2010
Peter Friedman has some thoughts on the public art copyright infringement lawsuit I mentioned a couple weeks ago here. He endorses the sentiment that "any scheme that involves paying to photograph seems antithetical to the public interest," and he also thinks the photograph at issue is a fair use "because [it] stands on its own as a creative work...

Fisk Update

Posted on February 23, 2010
I think the headline on this story in The Tennessean ("Door is left open for Fisk to sell Georgia O'Keeffe art") is a little misleading. The Tennessee Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of the intermediate appellate court's decision tossing the O'Keeffe Museum from the suit on standing grounds...

"Like an episode of 'Antiques Roadshow' gone horribly wrong"

Posted on February 22, 2010
The New York Post on a dispute over a $20,000 work by 18th century Scottish artist Sir Henry Raeburn.

"Why is copyright (suddenly) a hot topic for artists?"

Posted on February 22, 2010
Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento considers the question.

Next They'll Tackle the Nature of the Good

Posted on February 22, 2010
The Whitefish (Montana) Pilot: "Council looks at how to define 'artwork.'"

More on the Polaroid Sale

Posted on February 22, 2010
The Art Market Monitor poses some "unanswered Polaroid questions," citing A.D. Coleman's ongoing series of posts on the sale. (He's up to Update # 13.) Coleman links to a letter from the lawyer for the bankruptcy trustee, which says that two federal courts have "authoriz[ed] the sale of artwork free and clear of any and all liens, claims, encumbrances and interests of any kind whatsoever and the transfer of good, clear and marketable title," so I'm not sure where the (legal) controversy is...

"Will Expiration of Estate Tax Mean Less $ for Charity?"

Posted on February 22, 2010
The Nonprofit Law Prof Blog: "Uncertainty about the estate tax has caused all sorts of problems for estate planners and their wealthy clients. The estate tax expired at the end of 2010, but if Congress does nothing, the tax in 2011 will affect more people than it did in 2009...

"Is title insurance a solution in search of a problem?"

Posted on February 22, 2010
At the Huffington Post, Daniel Grant takes a look at how art title insurance is faring. He points out that, when it first came on the market, "lawyers and those in the art trade heartily endorsed the concept" (well, not all of them), but now, "several years later, the opportunity to purchase artwork headache-free does not appear to have been picked up by many art collectors or dealers...

Tradeoffs

Posted on February 22, 2010
The Boston Globe reports that "Brandeis University unveiled a series of cost-cutting proposals this afternoon that would eliminate about two dozen faculty positions, several undergraduate majors and graduate programs, and more than a dozen university-sponsored doctoral spots...

"If the forces of evil do indeed win, the worst that will happen is that Barnes's art will be seen by many more people"

Posted on February 19, 2010
"It's hardly the crime of the century."

"[T]o point to the government's investigation of his own misconduct as grounds for a discovery extension...is truly the definition of chutzpah"

Posted on February 18, 2010
That's a quote from a recent brief from the AP, via this detailed update from Ben Sheffner on the Shepard Fairey criminal investigation.

Karen Carolan to ADAA

Posted on February 18, 2010
Josh Baer: "Karen Carolan who recently retired as director of the Office of Art Appraisals Services for the IRS and the chair of the Art Advisory Panel in Washington has now been [named] executive director of appraisal services for the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA)...

"This is art given by people in the Central Valley for people in the Central Valley. It should stay in the Central Valley"

Posted on February 17, 2010
The Fresno Bee reports that "a local attorney is asking the state Attorney General's Office to investigate whether it is proper for the Fresno Metropolitan Museum to sell off its collection to satisfy its debts."At this point, that's all it is: a request, by a private citizen, to investigate something...

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